One of
the expected gains of
having the experience of
a Darryl Sutter behind
the bench was the
calming influence on the
club when the team
inevitably hit a dry
spell.
The
thinking goes that
Sutter would keep the
lows a little less low,
and keep that demonic
sized snowball from
rolling down the hill,
picking up speed and
size.
On this
night the Flames pretty
much melted said
snowball with the red
glare of the goal light
scoring six times
through with
skid-snapping glee.
The
first period was all
Matthew Lombardi as the
rookie scored a
powerplay goal early in
the first then added an
assist with a great pass
on Chris Clark's second
of the season.
He was
just getting warmed up.
The
Hawks narrowed the lead
with a goal by former
Flame farmhand Brett
Maclean to make the
score 2-1 after one.
The
second period belonged
to struggling winger
Dean McAmmond as the
speedster working on a
line with Stephane Yelle
and Shean Donovan scored
once at even strength
then added a powerplay
goal later in the
period.
In-between
the Matthew Lombardi story
continued when the
rookie scored his fourth
of the season and 2nd of
the night when he
wristed one between
Michael Leighton's pads.
The
Flames were forced to
kill many a penalty in
the third period, a
scary prospect given the
club's lowly ranking
when a man down and the
fact that the PK single
handedly sunk the team
in Columbus on Sunday
afternoon.
They
were perfect in this one
though, killing three
third period powerplays,
and five overall, plus
kicking in a highlight
reel shorthanded goal by
Lombardi to complete the
hat trick.
Lombardi
took a fortunate bounce
off the lively Chicago
glass, turned on the
burners and beat Craig
Anderson with a head
fake breakaway goal to
complete the scoring at
6-2.
Jamie
McLennan didn't have a
lot of work through two
periods only facing 17
shots in total, but then
had to be sharp in the
third when the Hawks
pressed to the tune of
16 additional shots.
Oddly
the six goal explosion
was achieved without the
help of the team's top
line as Jarome Iginla,
Craig Conroy and Steve
Reinprecht were all held
off the scoresheet.
Next up
for the Flames is a date
in Nashville tomorrow
night where they'll try
to make it two in a row
before facing the Oilers
in Edmonton on Saturday
night to complete their
four game trip.
The win
for Calgary jumps the
Flames from a tie for
last in the West to a
tie for 11th spot in
with San Jose, one point
back of both Edmonton
and Anaheim, and two
back of Dallas and
Detroit for the 7th and
8th playoff spots.
Calgary has games in
hand on all four teams.
